I agree that rationalism involves the (advanced rationalist) skills of instrumentally routing through relevant political challenges to accomplish your goals … but I’m not sure any of those proposed labels captures that well.
I like “apolitical” because it unequivocally states that you’re not trying to slogan-monger for a political tribe, and are naively, completely, loudly, and explicitly opting out of that status competition and not secretly fighting for the semantic high-ground in some underhanded way (which is more typical political behavior, and is thus expected). “Meritocratic,” “humanist,” “humanitarian,” and maybe “open-minded” are all shot for that purpose, as they’ve been abused by political tribes in the ongoing culture war (and in previous culture wars, too; our era probably isn’t too special in this regard) and connotate allegiance to some political tribes over others.
What I really want is an adjective that says “I’m completely tapping out of that game.”
The problem is that whenever well meaning people come up with such an adjective, the people who are, in fact, not “completely tapping out of that game” quickly begin to abuse it until it loses meaning.
Generally speaking, tribalized people have an incentive to be seen as unaffiliated as possible. Being seen as a rational, neutral observer lends your perspective more credibility.
“apolitical” has indeed been turned into a slur around “you’re just trying to hide that you hate change” or “you’re just trying to hide the evil influences on you” (or something else vaguely like those) in a number of places.
I agree that rationalism involves the (advanced rationalist) skills of instrumentally routing through relevant political challenges to accomplish your goals … but I’m not sure any of those proposed labels captures that well.
I like “apolitical” because it unequivocally states that you’re not trying to slogan-monger for a political tribe, and are naively, completely, loudly, and explicitly opting out of that status competition and not secretly fighting for the semantic high-ground in some underhanded way (which is more typical political behavior, and is thus expected). “Meritocratic,” “humanist,” “humanitarian,” and maybe “open-minded” are all shot for that purpose, as they’ve been abused by political tribes in the ongoing culture war (and in previous culture wars, too; our era probably isn’t too special in this regard) and connotate allegiance to some political tribes over others.
What I really want is an adjective that says “I’m completely tapping out of that game.”
The problem is that whenever well meaning people come up with such an adjective, the people who are, in fact, not “completely tapping out of that game” quickly begin to abuse it until it loses meaning.
Generally speaking, tribalized people have an incentive to be seen as unaffiliated as possible. Being seen as a rational, neutral observer lends your perspective more credibility.
“apolitical” has indeed been turned into a slur around “you’re just trying to hide that you hate change” or “you’re just trying to hide the evil influences on you” (or something else vaguely like those) in a number of places.